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Tuesday, June 19, 2018

The Supreme Judicial Court on Monday rejected a ballot question that would have raised the state income tax on Massachusetts’ highest earners and put that money into transportation and education, delivering a crushing defeat for progressive activists and organized labor and removing a volatile issue from this fall’s election.

In a 5-2 decision, the court sided with business groups that argued the proposal was unconstitutional. The measure would have imposed a higher income tax rate for personal earnings above $1 million, a levy that would have brought in an estimated $2 billion in new revenue next year.

“We will need to be creative and take a hard look at potential revenues from new sources to address the very real challenges we face as a Commonwealth,” said outgoing Senate President Harriette L. Chandler. Boston Mayor Martin J. Walsh echoed those sentiments, saying, “Nobody ever wants to raise a tax but we have some serious infrastructure issues here in Boston and Massachusetts, whether it’s roads and bridges, whether it’s education.”

So, no new taxes for being successful and wealthy. Perhaps now, the powers at be and those intent on having class warfare can concentrate on how to repair and improve the infrastructure within the state west of 495. They could begin with fully funding transportation costs of regional school districts.